The TIS National Illegal Maritime Arrival (IMA) team maintains a list of interpreters available for IMA work. If you indicated during your induction that you are interested in accepting these assignments, you will be added to this list.

IMA work offers depend on requests received from our clients and priority is given to the highest accredited available interpreter.

You should only accept assignments you can commit to completing and only cancel an assignment for urgent matters. If you are no longer available to complete an assignment you have accepted, contact TIS National immediately.

If you need to cancel a pre-booked telephone assignment, contact the Pre-booked telephone interpreting team.

If you need to cancel an on-site assignment, contact the Channel Support team.

Interpreters are required to confirm each interpreting assignment in their TIS Online portal the day after it is completed.

To confirm an on-site assignment using TIS Online, please use one of the following options:

1. If the assignment was completed within the scheduled time, you can easily confirm it by finalising the job in your TIS Online portal. Uploading your signed Service Delivery Form (SDF) is optional.

2. If the assignment went for longer than the scheduled time, you need to vary the job in TIS Online with the new job end time entered. You will be required to upload your signed Service Delivery Form (SDF) within 14 days of the assignment to ensure you are paid for the extra time you worked.

3. If there were any other issues with your assignment that you wish to notify TIS National about, you need to dispute the job in TIS Online. Uploading your signed Service Delivery Form (SDF) is optional if you dispute a job.

TIS National allocates work using a digital list of interpreters who are logged in as available to accept work. The list is programmed to automatically give priority to the highest credentialed interpreter available, providing these interpreters with more work opportunities.

By offering work to the highest credentialed interpreter first, we are able to provide the best quality services to our clients.

A WWCC (or its equivalent depending on the jurisdiction) provides a level of screening designed to protect children from possible harm perpetrated against them by workers. It is a legal requirement for workers to hold a valid WWCC before undertaking certain types of work involving children. The requirements currently differ from state to state.

Why do I need a WWCC?

It is a legal requirement for workers to hold a valid WWCC before undertaking designated types of work involving children. This can include certain interpreting assignments with children. To ensure compliance with the law, TIS National policy requires interpreters to hold a WWCC to undertake these assignments. A valid WWCC is required to meet eligibility to be offered Illegal Maritime Arrival (IMA) deployments.

How do I obtain a WWCC?

To apply for a Working with Children Check (or equivalent) see the relevant link below for your state or territory:

Victoria:

The Victorian Working with Children Check is administered by the Department of Justice and Regulation.

Working with Children Checks (or equivalent) have different validity periods in each state or territory. To find out more information about each state or territory on the websites listed under ‘How do I obtain a WWCC?’ above.

Do I need a WWCC for every state or territory for phone interpreting involving children?

WWCC requirements differ from state to state. In some states or territories, interpreters undertaking certain jobs involving children (including telephone interpreting) will require a valid WWCC from the state or territory where the child is located. TIS National is developing systems to ensure compliance with this requirement.

How do I show TIS National my WWCC card/letter?

You can upload a certified copy of your WWCC card/letter in TIS Online. This can be done in the credentials section in your Interpreter Profile.

For more information on certifying documents, see question: ‘Who can certify my documents?’

If you have not been paid correctly, contact the interpreter pay enquiries line.

Interpreters are paid fortnightly on Thursdays. A detailed pay slip is emailed to interpreters each pay day.

Assignments must be confirmed in TIS National’s systems the Monday before the next pay day to receive payment for an assignment.

Remember to maintain records of all of your job numbers and the length of the assignments so that you can compare these with details on your pay slips.

If there are any assignments you believe you have not been paid for, or underpaid for, please email a list of the job numbers and details of what you think may be incorrect to the Interpreter liaison team and we will investigate them for you.

It is not mandatory to transition to the new credentials, however, TIS National strongly recommends that you do.

Our allocation policy is changing to give preference to the new credentials. From 1 July 2018, all practitioners who have transitioned will be given priority when allocating work ahead of those who have chosen not to transition.

TIS National encourages you to transition before 30 June 2018 when our allocation policy changes.

Prior to this date, there will be no cost to transition. After this date, NAATI will charge a fee to transition.

When you transition, you will also receive a free listing in the NAATI online Directory.

If you gained your credential after 2007 and choose not to transition, your credential will lapse as NAATI will no longer revalidate these credentials.

TIS National supports the goals of the new certification model. It is an important step in the ongoing professionalisation of the interpreting industry in Australia.

No. TIS National interpreters are contracted as individuals not as a business therefore you do not require an Australian Business Number (ABN). TIS National automatically deducts tax from interpreter pay.

Yes. TIS National applicants are required to provide a certified copy of a current (less than one year old) National Police History Check/National Police Certificate (NPC) when applying to become an interpreter for TIS National.

TIS National requires interpreters to be available to work between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you are interested in becoming an interpreter with TIS National and meet the criteria, complete the interpreter application form and submit with the following documentation:

a certified copy of any NAATI credentials you hold

a copy of your National Police History Check/National Police Certificate (NPC). Your NPC must not be more than 12 months old. If your NPC is from Australian Federal Police or State Police, you will need to provide a certified copy. Click here for more information

a certified copy of an employment Working with Children Check from your state or territory of residence, where required (Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory and South Australia). Also see FAQ: What do I need to know about Working with Children Checks?

certified copies of 100 points of identification documentation. Click here for more information

a certified copy of proof of your Australian citizenship or permanent residency, or New Zealand citizenship

your resume

details of any interpreting experience you have including reference letters

You can contact the TIS National Interpreter liaison team with any enquiries about becoming an interpreter.

TIS National is based in Melbourne and recruits interpreters around Australia. If you have an enquiry for the Interpreter liaison team please send your enquiry by email. You may prefer to contact the team by phone if your enquiry is urgent.

All interpreter recruitment activities will be conducted over the phone or by email.

A WWCC (or its equivalent depending on the jurisdiction) provides a level of screening designed to protect children from possible harm perpetrated against them by workers. It is a legal requirement for workers to hold a valid WWCC before undertaking certain types of work involving children. The requirements currently differ from state to state.

Why do I need a WWCC?

It is a legal requirement for workers to hold a valid WWCC before undertaking designated types of work involving children. This can include certain interpreting assignments with children. To ensure compliance with the law, TIS National policy requires interpreters to hold a WWCC to undertake these assignments. A valid WWCC is required to meet eligibility to be offered Illegal Maritime Arrival (IMA) deployments.

How do I obtain a WWCC?

To apply for a Working with Children Check (or equivalent) see the relevant link below for your state or territory:

Victoria:

The Victorian Working with Children Check is administered by the Department of Justice and Regulation.

Working with Children Checks (or equivalent) have different validity periods in each state or territory. To find out more information about each state or territory on the websites listed under ‘How do I obtain a WWCC?’ above.

Do I need a WWCC for every state or territory for phone interpreting involving children?

WWCC requirements differ from state to state. In some states or territories, interpreters undertaking certain jobs involving children (including telephone interpreting) will require a valid WWCC from the state or territory where the child is located. TIS National is developing systems to ensure compliance with this requirement.

How do I show TIS National my WWCC card/letter?

You can upload a certified copy of your WWCC card/letter in TIS Online. This can be done in the credentials section in your Interpreter Profile.

For more information on certifying documents, see question: ‘Who can certify my documents?’

A decision will be made based on your qualifications, experience and availability about whether your application will progress to the next stage. Due to the large number of applications we receive each week, the assessment of your application may take some time.

If you have not already provided one, you will be required to provide a current National Police History Check/National Police Certificate (NPC).

TIS National will contact you about the outcome of your application.

If you have been successful, TIS National will send you a Deed of Standing Offer to sign and some other paperwork which you need to complete and return to TIS National.

You will be invited to attend a group teleconference induction session. The induction is a process that every interpreter commencing work with TIS National must complete. Induction helps our new interpreters to gain knowledge about completing assignments, how to use our systems and other important information. You will also find out about your TIS National Interpreter liaison officer.

After completing the teleconference induction, you will be required to arrange a time for a one-on-one induction with your Interpreter liaison officer.

After you complete the one-on-one induction session you will be added to our interpreter panel and can start accepting work from TIS National.

TIS National is one of the largest interpreting services in Australia and the market leader in the provision of telephone interpreting. TIS National’s resources and depth of experience makes it ideally placed to provide professional interpreting services for all Australians.

TIS National:

provides telephone interpreting services 24 hours, every day of the year

No. TIS National interpreters are independent contractors and are paid based on the number of assignments they accept and complete.

If you are sick and unavailable to accept work from TIS National, you should contact your Interpreter liaison officer so we can make the necessary changes to your availability while you are unable to work.

Interpreter Liaison officers may contact you to discuss findings from a mystery shopped assignment. We encourage you to use this opportunity to actively consider new techniques to improve the quality of service you provide to TIS National clients.

We consider the health and safety of our workers to be important and seek to provide programs for their on-going support. TIS National provides free and confidential short term counselling for interpreters and their immediate families through the department’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

Benestar is the department's provider of the EAP and their staff are professionally qualified psychologists or social workers.

The EAP can cover a broad range of topics for work related or personal issues including:

career counselling

workplace mediation

interpersonal issues

performance and learning issues

organisational change

discrimination/harassment

emotional or psychological health

family/relationship issues

legal/financial issues

addictions/gambling issues

health and lifestyle

Contact the Interpreter liaison team for more information about the EAP for interpreters.

TIS National interpreters receive direct support from a team of dedicated Interpreter liaison officers to assist with enquiries relating to interpreting assignments.

Interpreter liaison officers can assist to clarify ethical issues, report workplace health and safety concerns and provide feedback about interpreting assignments. The team can also provide assistance if you need to de-brief after a particularly challenging assignment.

If the non-English speaker doesn't answer the call, the agency may request you to leave a message.

Please collect:

non-English speaker’s name (if available)

name of agency client

name of agency.

For example:

Hello [insert non-English speaker’s name]

I am an interpreter calling from TIS National on behalf of [insert agency staff member’s name] from [insert agency name]. Please contact TIS National on 131 450 and ask to be connected to an interpreter in [insert non-English speakers language] and to call [agency name].

Assignments depend on the requests we receive from our clients. The duration of assignments, the location of assignments and the type of client you are providing services to will vary depending on the request.

Yes. You can access a copy of A guide to TIS Online for interpreters in Portable Document Format (PDF) as well as view the TIS Online instructional video for interpreters from the TIS Online for interpreters section of our website.

If you accept an IMA deployment and you’ve already accepted other bookings for that period, you need to return them using TIS Online. You also need to update your ‘Special unavailability’ in TIS Online to show that you are not available for other work during that period.

No. Our agency clients also have the ability to log into TIS Online to make new booking requests. New jobs become available whenever the agency makes the booking request. While most agencies typically operate during business hours, they can make a new booking request at any time of the day or night.

All standard on-site jobs are managed through TIS Online, however you may still on occasion receive a call from a booking officer offering you a job (for example, urgent jobs or jobs which can’t be managed through TIS Online).

Yes. TIS Online works on internet-enabled mobile devices, so you can manage your jobs whenever and wherever it’s most convenient for you. We recommend that you regularly update the software on your mobile device to make sure TIS Online works most effectively.

Yes. You still need to get a Service Delivery form (SDF) signed at each on-site job and submit a copy to TIS National when the booking runs for longer than the scheduled time. Please note, you can no longer use the ATIS interpreter line to confirm your on-site jobs. All on-site jobs should be finalised through TIS Online.

Yes, you still need to log into ATIS to accept phone interpreting work. You are able to update your general availability for phone work in TIS Online, but you still need to log in and out of ATIS each day you want to accept phone interpreting work.

Jobs are offered to all of the highest-credentialed interpreters who meet the job requirements at the same time, before being progressively released to lower credentialed interpreters until an interpreter accepts it.

In line with TIS National policy regarding requesting a specific interpreter, it is rare that a job would be offered only to you, however in the case a job is offered only to you, you have 24 hours to accept it before it will be made available to other interpreters.

You can view jobs which have been offered specifically to you in the ‘Jobs offered only to you’ section in TIS Online.

You can contact the Channel Support team if you need assistance using TIS Online. The team is available during standard business hours. For urgent enquiries outside of these hours, please call the TIS National contact centre on 131 450.

For assistance with matters not related to TIS Online, please contact the TIS National Interpreter Liaison team.

You must be registered with TIS Online to be eligible to receive on-site interpreting work, so it is strongly recommended that you consider getting access to the internet if you want to be offered on-site interpreting work. You may still receive the occasional on-site job offer from a booking officer, however the majority of on-site work is offered exclusively through TIS Online.

Yes. All interpreters have the same opportunity to accept jobs in TIS Online.

TIS Online always offers jobs to the highest credentialed interpreters who meet the job requirements first. Jobs are only made available to interpreters with a lower credential level when they have not been accepted by a higher credentialed interpreter after being available to them for six hours.

In this case, you will see a message stating that the job is no longer available for you to accept. In this case, it’s a good idea to refresh your screen regularly when using TIS Online to make sure you only see jobs which are still available to be accepted.

TIS Online has been designed for both PC and Apple-based operating systems and is optimised for recent internet browsers. To ensure TIS Online renders most effectively, we recommend you regularly update your internet browser.